Today:
While the Moon, just one day past Full, continues to bathe the skies with moonlight, the western skies play host to several bright objects capable of competing with the lunar glow. As the last twilight fades, Jupiter is due west, one third of the way above the horizon, at 8:45 PM. Jupiter is slowly progressing up through the “horns” of Taurus, the Bull, but not fast enough to overcome the Earth’s orbital speed. Jupiter settles lower each evening, and will be out of view by June.
Monday:
The brilliant star in the southwest to the left of Orion’s belt is Sirius, the Dog Star. As it lowers closer to the horizon, notice that as it twinkles, it flashes many colors. Its light is bending on its way through our atmosphere, giving us pin-point glimpses of its spectrum or rainbow, one color at a time.
Tuesday:
Sirius, the Dog Star, shines bright but low in the southwest by o’clock. However, there is a second “dog star”, Procyon, or the Little Dog, directly above Sirius, much higher in the southwest. Procyon appears about half way up in the skies at 9 o’clock, ranked as the 6th brightest star we can see. Like Sirius, it belongs to our neighborhood of stars, only 11 light years from here.